r/technology 19h ago

EU law mandating universal chargers for devices comes into force Hardware

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20241228-eu-law-mandating-universal-chargers-for-devices-comes-into-force
1.8k Upvotes

332

u/guyoffthegrid 19h ago

TL;DR:

EU rules requiring all new smartphones, tablets and cameras to use the same charger came into force on Saturday, in a change Brussels said will cut costs and waste.

Manufacturers are now obliged to fit devices sold in the 27-nation bloc with a USB-C, the port chosen by the European Union as the common standard for charging electronic tools.

The law was first approved in 2022 following a tussle with US tech giant Apple. It allowed companies until December 28 this year to adapt.

Makers of laptops will have extra time, from early 2026, to also follow suit.

32

u/Blubasur 16h ago

Does this include electric razors cause fuck me I lost all my chargers

31

u/punIn10ded 14h ago

Not officially, but I am starting to see USB-C turn up in all kinds of places now. The weirdest so far was a breast pump, a cheap kids karaoke set and Christmas lights.

IMHO the cost of the port is coming down so fast that it will be the default for most consumer devices in a few years.

9

u/tempralanomaly 2h ago

Having the port made standard by law for an entire bloc of nations is definitely going to help the economics of scale as well.

222

u/Drudicta 18h ago

I really appreciate this law, as a person who has been extremely irritated with trying to find cables capable of a certain throughput, and trying not to get ripped off with the chargers for other devices.

43

u/CarlosFer2201 18h ago

Does this law guarantee performance or just compatibility?

71

u/Broccoli--Enthusiast 16h ago

Just charging compatibility, the actually letter of the law basically requiress them to fit usb c ports that are wired to follow the usb-PD(power delivery) standard. Nothing about data connections over the same port, you will still have to make sure the charger is a high enough wattage to take advantage of what your device can change with and that the cable is good quality

As for data, you will need to make sure you are also using the correct type of cable for your device , like regular usb cables and thundbolt cables will look identical unless they manufactur marks them with the correct logo and the user knows the difference.

Although both will still charge all devices.

42

u/Perkelton 13h ago

It does actually mandate that they can't artificially limit USB-PD in favour of a different charging method. Charging over USB must be as fast as is technically possible if other alternatives are also included.

In other words, it's allowed to e.g. limit USB-PD to 5W, but if they also offer a proprietary charging method at 40W, then they must ensure it's also possible to charge at 40W (or more) over USB-PD. If they add 300kW CCS to the device, then it must still be possible to charge as fast as the spec allows over USB (I think 240W).

9

u/zacker150 13h ago

So what exactly counts as an artificial limit? After all, 100W can be delivered in many different ways.

If a phone manufacturer has an alternative protocol that charges a phone using 5V 20A, do they have to build support for 20V 5A, or do they merely have to support 5V 2A (PD's maximum 5V profile)?

19

u/FriendlyDespot 9h ago

Any device that charges up to 15W (nominally 3A at 5V) must support standard USB-C 5V power supply options. Devices charging above 15W must support USB-PD for charging, and support the maximum rated charging capacity through USB-PD.

-21

u/zacker150 8h ago edited 8h ago

I don't like that. It'll deter high-current charging solutions by forcing them to also magic up something that can efficiently convert 48V to battery voltage on the phone.

14

u/NiteShdw 8h ago

USB-C PD can do 240W. I don't know if any device that fall under this law that charges at that rate.

So what exactly is the problem?

-13

u/zacker150 7h ago

As I mentioned previously, there are multiple ways of delivering 240W to a device. You can deliver high voltage or you can deliver high current.

USB PD choses high voltage. 240W is delivered by jacking the voltage up to the maximum safe voltage of 48V.

Unfortunately, the main bottleneck for battery charging is voltage conversion. This is why no phone supports more than 45W on USB PD and why faster charging solutions all use high current charging.

Phones like the Realme GT Neo 5, which charges at 24V/10A (240W total), would be made impossible by those law.

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2

u/nicuramar 8h ago

They have to offer PD if PD supports the particular power. There is nothing about profiles in the legislation. 

2

u/schmerm 10h ago

If they add 300kW CCS to the device, then it must still be possible to charge as fast as the spec allows over USB (I think 240W).

Haha I'm guessing the law doesn't actually apply to EVs because it would be funny if they were forced to enable trickle DC charging over USB for cars

1

u/ryapeter 8h ago

How about reversible. The other trick to make cheaper price is they only solder 1 side of the pcb making it 1 side connector. So now you have ¼ chance.

-3

u/CarlosFer2201 15h ago

Yeah I figured. I bet Apple will make sure only licensed cables can deliver full power and bandwidth.

24

u/wreak 14h ago

They wanted to try that, but the EU said no. It has to work with standard cables with no extra license.

-7

u/nicuramar 8h ago

 They wanted to try that, but the EU said no

This is pure speculation without evidence. None of their MacBook’s have any such limits either. 

9

u/padmanek 6h ago

-4

u/Jusby_Cause 4h ago

There was no information from Apple in the first link. That was leakers posting rumors (it’s what the site’s for). And, thus, the EU was formally responding to rumors.

When Apple introduced lightning, they said it would be the connector for a decade. That decade ended in 2022 and, in 2023, they shipped a phone with USB-C, a year BEFORE the deadline because that was the plan.

-5

u/Corronchilejano 13h ago

What if it works but worse?

-1

u/Outrageous-Horse-701 9h ago

Won't stop people from buying them...

1

u/Corronchilejano 9h ago

That wasn't my point. I was wondering if it was legal to have both a propietary and a USB C connection and just make the USB C worse than the propietary one.

-3

u/Outrageous-Horse-701 8h ago

That's exactly what they have done. Their USB C port is different and needs their own cable for optimal performance

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4

u/nicuramar 8h ago

Clearly not, as they have done nothing like that with any of their USB C devices which have been out for years. 

9

u/fatbob42 7h ago

Does this mean that all the various little devices (watches, aux batteries, toothbrushes, shavers etc) that you might buy in the EU have proper USB-C sockets on them now? And none of them have the awful version which have to be charged via a USB-A supply?

24

u/Svorky 7h ago

No, not yet at least. The list is:

  • Mobile phones
  • Tablets
  • Digital cameras
  • Headphones and headsets
  • Handheld videogame consoles and portable speakers
  • E-readers
  • Keyboards
  • Mice
  • Portable navigation systems
  • Earbuds
  • Laptops (from 2026)

5

u/fatbob42 6h ago

To me, it would make more sense to start at the small device end - and in particular not to allow those “fake” USB-C ports.

6

u/tempralanomaly 2h ago

Not all of them are required.

But you'll probably see most of them follow suit, as it'll probably be cheaper to manufacture with the standardized port than to have to make a separate custom port.

0

u/fatbob42 2h ago

If that were true, they’d have done it a long time ago. If the point is to reduce waste, surely it’s worth enforcing on all the little devices - there’s a lot more variation in those than in phones.

5

u/tempralanomaly 2h ago

The fact that it's now codified in EU law for many other devices means that it'll be the most manufactured cable and port style. Economics of scale will drive that component cost further down going forward.

As it will become the cheapest and easiest to get a hold of (if not manufacturing that component in house) and therefore it will be cheaper to design around. 

The reason it hasn't happened before was there was no forced standards. But even then the industries have been trending towards the C standard anyway (which also could be the result of this legislation as the manufacturers get ahead of the deadlines)

4

u/Balmung60 6h ago

It's a good idea, but I have to ask if there's a provision for adopting new charging standards in the future. Because USB C is great, but it would be foolish to assume it's the end-all be-all upon which no improvement will ever be made

19

u/Zouden 5h ago

They can always update the directive if necessary. Realistically we will still be using USB C for another decade though

13

u/The_Countess 4h ago

The law already allows for the USB consortium updating the standard.  Whatever the new standard wil be, wil be the standard set by the law.

And the law doesn't dictate any restrictions, just that it should be compatible with usb-c and the USB-PD standard.

1

u/JFeth 33m ago

This is the way it should be done. Agree to a standard and make everyone use it for a set amount of time, then choose again. Every company can still innovate and have a chance at the next standard, and customers aren't fucked over in the process.

1

u/costafilh0 16m ago

TLDR

The EU now requires USB-C as the standard charger for smartphones, tablets, and cameras sold in the bloc, aiming to reduce costs and waste. The rule, approved in 2022, took effect in December 2024, with laptops having until 2026 to comply.

151

u/Jubjub0527 19h ago

Ok... now can we start regulating the apps and in particular how many of them hide/obscure/shift the close out button for ads,ads which ignore your volume settings or override them completely?

62

u/Fun_Balance_7770 19h ago

And all the pre-installed bloatware on full-price flagship android devices...

12

u/IT_Chef 17h ago

I'm a Verizon wireless customer, I love the fact that every time a security update of any kind to my Android device, it also includes somewhere around 8 that I never asked for!

4

u/LaidPercentile 18h ago

I agree with this.

For now you can use Shizuku + Canta to uninstall those.

8

u/WhereIsYourMind 11h ago

The android operating system is developed by an internet advertising company, bloatware is part of the design.

9

u/joshuadefty 14h ago

Those "x" buttons that are smaller than a pixel and play hide and seek? Pure evil. And don't get me started on ads blasting at 3am when your phone is on silent.

1

u/Jubjub0527 3h ago

Duolingo now has a slow of them without mute buttons and it's infuriating.

9

u/YeahMateYouWish 19h ago

I agree but that's not really related apart from it's a phone.

3

u/P0RTILLA 13h ago

EU should also standardize electrical receptacles.

1

u/fatbob42 7h ago

Not sure if you’re being sarcastic.

2

u/Ran4 1h ago

Schuko isn't standard. It really should be.

1

u/P0RTILLA 2h ago

I’m not. It would reduce e-waste. All new installs should have Europlug. Isn’t it more wasteful to buy a receptacle adapter than a USB cord?

1

u/fatbob42 1h ago

The receptacles are AC.

1

u/P0RTILLA 31m ago

And all USB is DC.

26

u/made-of-questions 18h ago

To be honest I thought this was already in effect. For the past few years all devices I bought were USBC, no doubt in preparation for the deadline.

And this year I got to a personal milestone on that all the devices I use regularly are USBC powered. I travel regularly and I can't tell you just what a mental load off this is. I recently packed a big box of various chargers and adapters and put it in storage. Now I only need to pack my laptop adapter and it can charge my laptop, phone, mobile battery, headphones and even emergency light. I love it.

24

u/TraditionalAppeal23 17h ago

iPhone's were the hold-out. Apple was making too much cash off of $40 lightning cables.

11

u/Chrontius 11h ago

And now I probably have close to a thousand bucks (retail pricing) of iphone speakers, docks, and accessories that are somewhere between "less useful" and "e-waste" because of it. There wasn't really a good options, just a more-bad and a less-bad option, and people disagree which is which.

(A kilobuck ain't hard to hit, it might cost $500 just to replace the thermal camera, and I think I'm retiring a $300 pair of headphones for want of a compatible cable! Those JBL docks might have been a hundred fifty bucks each when new, and I can't even imagine what this weird-ass Mutant speaker cost once upon a time. DJ mixer, alarm clocks… what else am I forgetting, and how much did it cost?)

8

u/TraditionalAppeal23 11h ago

That sucks, I guess now you have to fully embrace the Apple meme and use an adapter for everything.

3

u/Chrontius 11h ago

Some of those adapters were even made, once upon a time. I 'm mostly fucked, now.

OH! I forgot about things like the Gamevise controller ($150); there's no modern equivalent made or adapter possible. Just gotta have to eat the loss of functionality here, since there's no other option.

1

u/AlmostCynical 5h ago

Didn’t the adapter meme properly kick off after they switched to all USB-C ports on the laptops?

1

u/R4vendarksky 3h ago

I don’t understand your problem. You already have all the cables right?

1

u/WolpertingerRumo 57m ago

You can still buy lightning cables, you know. They‘re not banned.

2

u/Tripottanus 4h ago

They arent the only ones. I have a Garmin watch and they use AC plugs instead of USB-C. Not sure if they are forced to switch over or not

1

u/razrielle 2h ago

Is it an older one? I got an instinct early last year and have a USB-C cable for it

2

u/Jusby_Cause 4h ago

iPhones were the hold-out because Apple said in 2012 that Lightning would be the connector for the next decade, which ended in 2022. In 2023, they shipped the first iPhone without lightning.

2

u/sesor33 51m ago

Yeah, im not an apple fanboy but its always funny when people completely ignore this. They also ignore that apple was the first to adopt USB-C with the macbook back in... i think 2015? And I remember people malding so hard about needing an adapter for it and saying that it was "proprietary"

1

u/Little_Duckling 4m ago

Apple haters are more annoying than Apple fanboys

1

u/tealbluetempo 3h ago

Wireless charging is where it’s at anyway.

1

u/sesor33 52m ago

Lightning cables were literally $10 and you could buy them from a gas station, straight up the same price as a USB-C 60W cable.

Reddit moment lmao

0

u/nicuramar 8h ago

iPhones have been USB C for a while now, matching what parent expected.

43

u/happyscrappy 17h ago

Power tool battery standardization next please.

9

u/Pikamander2 8h ago

Yes please. Lowes gave me a free $40 battery for being one of the first customers in line on Black Friday, and I ended up just giving it away because it wasn't compatible with a single tool I owned.

I can understand different classes of tools having different requirements, but the current state of power tool batteries is ridiculous and needs to be given the USB-C treatment.

3

u/hamatehllama 2h ago

It would be nice if all 18V and 60V batteries were compatible. Then you could mix and match from different brands instead of being locked into a single ecosystem.

1

u/happyscrappy 58m ago

On that second part, Dewalt has a system which allows a single battery to be used as either a "normal" voltage battery or a high voltage one (20V and 60V, although this would be lower Europe due to their standardized voltage measurement schemes) depending on the tool's needs.

https://www.dewalt.com/product/dcb609-2/20v60v-max-flexvolt-9ah-battery-2-pk

I'd love to see something like that standardized on.

7

u/pdirth 15h ago

I seem to remember reading something like that is on its way as well. (Although, knowing how slow governments are, it might have been quietly forgotten about)

0

u/nemesit 11h ago

That would be sooo much more useful

36

u/tygramynt 19h ago

How does this work for laptops that may draw more power then usbc can provide?

98

u/rocketwidget 19h ago

One caveat, laptops are uniquely excluded from the law until 2026.

USB-C can go to 240 Watts, and while the 240W USB-C cables have been around a while, the first actual chargers are only coming to market now. https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/6/24289498/delta-electronics-240w-usb-c-pd-charger-first-adapter

Also note only one USB-C charging port is required, but multiple charging ports of any type are allowed.

27

u/ChangeMyDespair 18h ago

Cool! So MacBooks, that already can charge with USB-C, can keep their MagSafe ports.

Good to know.

13

u/rocketwidget 18h ago

Correct. It's true for any device, but smaller devices like phones usually have 1 port; laptops tend to have many.

3

u/nicuramar 8h ago

MacBooks already do charge via either USB C port and have MagSafe. 

88

u/smallproton 19h ago

Also note only one USB-C charging port is required, but multiple charging ports of any type are allowed.

Yes!
All these whiners who go like "this is preventing invention" listen up: You CAN add all the ports you like. But you MUST provide USB-C charging.

Easy, no?

25

u/Joezev98 17h ago

Also the law allows for innovation. It doesn't require usb c indefinitely, just a common port across the board. Right now, that common port is usb c.

-35

u/Watchjackgame 15h ago

Yeah let’s just get every single company to agree on a new port and pass legislation so it can be implemented that won’t stifle innovation at all 👍

24

u/punIn10ded 14h ago

Nope it just needs to be the port specified by the USB standards body. That's it.

22

u/josefx 9h ago

The EU established a group to handle that and it worked mostly fine. The only reason this even ended up as an explicit law was Apple.

1

u/plaguedbullets 15h ago

Trivago, yes.

6

u/Clean_Livlng 14h ago

I wonder if a low watt USB-C charger can eventually charge a laptop, so in a pinch you could use your phone charger to charge your laptop.

Seems like it can from that reddit post, which is great. It means that while a low watt USB cable can;t provide 100% of the power while running, it can extend the time before it runs out of battery, and gradually recharge it afterwards.

I'll take that over: "lost your charger? Guess you won't get to use your laptop for the number of days it takes to get a new one"

You can also use a high watt charger for your phone (a quick google says this is safe as it should limit the watts supplied to what the phone needs). Is this correct? info on google can sometimes be incorrect, and it's good to check with actual reddit humans, especially when it come to safety/electricity.

17

u/rocketwidget 14h ago

To your questions: Yes, for example, my laptop came with a USB-C 65 Watt charger but charges with my 20 Watt charger just fine (only slower, with a dialog warning).

Yes, you can use a higher watt USB-C charger than your phone supports. The charger and phone will communicate and figure out the fastest charging rate they both support.

3

u/Clean_Livlng 13h ago

Thank you for confirming!

9

u/oPFB37WGZ2VNk3Vj 14h ago

I charged my MacBook with my iPhone Charger overnight when I forgot the Mac charger so it’s definitely possible.

3

u/nicuramar 8h ago

 You can also use a high watt charger for your phone (a quick google says this is safe as it should limit the watts supplied to what the phone needs). Is this correct?

Of course. Otherwise the laptop would fry when the battery is full and it stops charging. Power draw is always controlled by the device, and this isn’t unique to USB. 

1

u/Sweevo1979 8h ago

It's one of the best things about usb charging. I used to have to carry three different chargers for work (iPhone work, Android home, weird dell pogo for the laptop) - now I just take a single 120w usb charger with three USB-C ports and a USB-A port and can run/charge all three and charge my buds while I'm there.

1

u/XDGrangerDX 8h ago

Perfectly safe to use a high power charger for your phone. Just kinda scary the first time you do it cause turns out your phone can handle a lot faster charging than the supplied cable can. So suddenly your phones charged in 10 minutes and hot to the touch lmao.

19

u/HydrationPlease 19h ago

USB C is at 240W right now. With a year more to hit 300W, it's more than doable. I've seen prototypes for 320W, 340W and 360W cables. They're waiting to release those.

8

u/Lordnerble 19h ago

USBc/TB PD standards since 2021 support 48v/240w charging now. My mid range gaming laptop uses 240w. I think we'll be fine. plus laptop manufactures have till 2026 to comply and most already do in some way or another(may not come with a charger, but they already support usbc charging.)

5

u/TraditionalAppeal23 17h ago

They can switch to a new port if needed, but it has to be agreed upon by device manufacturers at the USB implementers forum. The law doesn't force USB-C only, just that the manufacturers agree to one standard. But USB-C is a highly extensible standard, and can supply 240W as other have said.

5

u/Broccoli--Enthusiast 16h ago

I don't see the physical port or power delivery standard changing for a long time. Just updates to the established standards , the data transfer speeds are already way beyond what most devices can take advantage of and power delivery standard can be updated independently, it will probably be over 300w within the year and for 99% of devices it's already wayy beyond overkill, they last 1% can just add a 2nd type of charging port that properly charged it at a decent speed.

1

u/fatbob42 7h ago

I don’t think this is correct - the commission has a board that is supposed to reevaluate if the enforced port should change. It isn’t changed by some consortium.

5

u/_Darren 19h ago

Over 100w is excluded. However even if not, you can still use normal barrel jack and USB C.

3

u/Broccoli--Enthusiast 16h ago

They will have a usb c capable charging port but charge power and reduce performance

Remember, the law only says it must have one usb c power delivery compatible port, not that it can't have multiple different charge connectors.

We have lenovo cad laptops at work, they comes with a 300w brick with lenovos connector but if you plug a charger into the usb c port, it just tells you it's a weak charger and will affect charging speed and device performance

1

u/Tripottanus 4h ago

My work laptop has a double USB-C plug on models that have higher performance (i.e. that require more juice). I dont know if the fact its a double plug goes against the ruling or not though

-5

u/AnInfiniteArc 18h ago edited 9h ago

It never occurred to me that laptops could draw more than the standard USB-C, especially since my most recent laptop only has a USB-C charge port. It makes sense though.

Edit: What did I do wrong? I’m sorry that I wasn’t intimately familiar with the USB-C spec…

12

u/Bruggenmeister 8h ago

Now regulate all EV chargers be retrofitted with normal debit card readers. I don’t need 14 apps and 7 cards in my wallet.

5

u/FrazzledHack 6h ago

0

u/Bruggenmeister 5h ago

Thats only new fast chargers.

2

u/FrazzledHack 4h ago

There's no pleasing some people. :-)

1

u/Bruggenmeister 3h ago

Its been 150 years of paying for fuel at a pump with money should have stayed the same.

16

u/Bob_Spud 19h ago

It would e nice if everybody in the world used the same mains plugs as well ... another waste saver. Some like the IEC 60320 C15/C16 (similar to the desktop computer plug), its compact

4

u/Outrageous-Horse-701 9h ago

Yes, but ain't gonna happen

3

u/fatbob42 7h ago

What waste would it save?

5

u/Artizela 4h ago

A ton of adapters, of course. Keep in mind we’re not just talking about removable adapters—almost every (internationally-sold) device plug in countries that aren’t using the US/EU standards is really just a US/EU plug with an adapter built in, which makes them both wasteful and unnecessarily bulky.

12

u/Meatslinger 16h ago edited 14h ago

Now let’s just hope USB-C can be shored up enough to survive regular use. I’ve been managing enough USB-C powered devices over the past few years now to have honestly lost faith in the connector type; my company has literally sent in HUNDREDS of Chromebooks for repairs because their USB-C ports get damaged, sometimes even resulting in fires. Usually, the little “wafer” in the middle of the port is the problem, as it endures a high amount of wiggling and torsion due to cables with loose tolerances.

Edit: spelling.

-16

u/ianlulz 15h ago

Yeah this isn’t really a win, despite the benefits of consistency. Doesn’t this effectively lock out any potentially better ports from coming in the future? Do we really want to be married to USB-C forever?

The Lightning port is already superior to USBC in reliability, minus its issues with fuzz. It’s a shame Apple didn’t open source it to properly compete with USBC before it became ubiquitous.

8

u/hextree 9h ago

Doesn’t this effectively lock out any potentially better ports from coming in the future?

Manufacturers can add any other port they want to the phone.

4

u/fatbob42 7h ago

Unlikely to happen on such devices as phones or smaller.

5

u/hextree 6h ago edited 5h ago

Additional ports fit just fine, manufacturers just choose not to, in order to force people to buy their proprietary cables.

-5

u/Meatslinger 14h ago

I definitely agree. I'm yet to actually break the connector or port itself for a Lightning connector (cable quality is usually the point of failure, there), but I have several USB-C peripherals with intermittently-functional ports, i.e. you have to plug them in and then hold them at just the right angle to make them work. Going forward, even if it's nice that people can buy a $30 charger instead of a $40 charger and know that it should work between most of their devices - note there's still no real consistency here either, because it could be USB 2, 3, 3.1, 3.2 Gen 1/2/2x2, or any of those with or without Power Delivery - if the connector is more prone to breakage, people are still going to be shelling out a chunk of cash to Apple/Samsung/HTC/Huawei to get the entire device swapped for a refurb when their port gets tweaked slightly too hard to one side and breaks the precious, delicate wafer in the middle of the socket, exactly as I've seen on so many Chromebooks now, as well as a few higher-ticket Lenovo and HP laptops that we buy. As a company we can just call that the cost of doing business, but this is a disservice to the average consumer that has less money at hand for unexpected repairs, not to mention time spent without a device that is likely indispensable to their daily needs.

I'd have preferred stronger legislative efforts towards the right-to-repair, so that it wouldn't matter what kind of port your phone has; vendors would be obligated to make sure parts are available and that you can install them yourself with a little know-how, or that you could go to a number of ordinary, unspecialized repair shops to have it done, instead of just those "in network" for a company, e.g. Apple Authorized Service Providers. Instead now, if USB-C keeps being as breakable as I've seen it to be, it just means everyone suffers equally with it.

4

u/FuckKarmeWhores 11h ago

EU putting an end to innovation like the USB2 lighting cable from Apple that haven't changed in 12 years! /s

12

u/nemesit 11h ago

Apple also made usb-c ;-p, they didn't use it on their iphones, ipads etc because after idiots complained when they transitioned away from 30-pin that they wouldn't change it again for a looong time

4

u/kbelicius 5h ago

Do you mean that they have made devices with usb-c? They certainly did not make usb-c.

5

u/AlmostCynical 4h ago

In fairness, Apple is part of the group that developed it and was one of the first large companies to adopt it in their laptops.

2

u/Jusby_Cause 3h ago

Yeah, vendors wouldn’t have felt comfortable spending money and materials producing, and no one would have felt comfortable buying, ALL the new lightning products if they felt their investment wouldn’t be good for awhile.

1

u/d3jake 3h ago

Do they regulate how the USB standard is adopted on that port? A friend recently tried to charge his iPhone off of a USB A to C cable and it did nothing. I'm reasonably sure it was a USB 3.0 or better cable too. It makes me wonder if they adopted the port but made ducky choices with adopting the USB specs.

1

u/GodlessPerson 2h ago

Yes, phones have to support usb standards and can't artificially limit them.

1

u/Treetokerz 1h ago

Usb-c sucks ass as a connector. Too loose. The connector should snap in and be tight, usb-c gets loose too quickly and is just a horrible connector. Does the law allow for upgrade?

1

u/almo2001 1h ago

I don't like this. What if they had done this when usb micro was the usb standard? Those plugs are garbage.

I think we're lucky USB C is as good as it is.

1

u/gogoluke 59m ago

You don't like it as they didn't use the connection you don't like?

1

u/almo2001 39m ago

No I'm saying that usb micro was objectively bad. I worked in mobile video games and the QA phones with micro plugs had tons of problems with their ports while the Apple ones didn't.

USB C is a far better design, so it's ok. But we got lucky; if the EU had done this before C existed, it probably would have been usb mini or micro both of which were bad designs.

1

u/dssurge 10m ago

Going from standard to standard is much less problematic than forcing unification to a current standard, which is where we are now. The hard part is over.

If micro usb was selected as a standard 15 years ago, it doesn't prevent USB C from being developed as a successor, it simply ensures the next plug will also be standardized.

-1

u/[deleted] 19h ago

[deleted]

8

u/A_Smi 19h ago

You want to use USB instead of normal high-current connectors?

-12

u/GTor93 19h ago

The nerve! Interfering with right of the private sector rip us all off.

12

u/GTor93 13h ago

Huh. I guess I really should use the sarcasm tag. I thought it was obvious. Sorry.

18

u/TransientAlienSheep 17h ago

I applaud you for not using the /s for what is an obvious joke. You sure did take a hit for it though lol.

-10

u/GroundbreakingBag164 16h ago

You get paid for bootlicking or what?

9

u/YesterdayDreamer 15h ago

Forgot your brains somewhere?

-5

u/M0therN4ture 9h ago

Apple on suicide watch.

3

u/nicuramar 8h ago

Even though all their popular devices use USB C. 

9

u/M0therN4ture 8h ago

Only after throwing a temper tantrum for years and billions of dollars spend to lobby the opposite.

4

u/AlmostCynical 4h ago

The 2015 MacBooks were literally some of the first devices to have USB-C. And if you don’t remember, people at the time threw a fit about needing adaptors for all of their existing cables.

1

u/razrielle 2h ago

I think pretty much everything is USB-C now.

-12

u/xmowx 19h ago

I bet that's probably why Apple finally dropped their stupid lightning connector.

29

u/CarlosFer2201 18h ago

Probably? Definitely. They loved having proprietary stuff they can control.

1

u/AlmostCynical 4h ago

I don’t know about that. Apple released laptops with only USB-C ports a year after the standard released and supported it on all of the high end iPads and switched to USB-C (at the plug) charging cables years ago. I imagine it was in the works for a while, but they didn’t want to switch all of the devices too soon after ditching 30-pin connectors (lightning released before USB-C existed) or for some other nebulous technical reason. Regulation might have sped up the process, but I believe it was always going to happen at some point.

2

u/shinra528 19h ago

Kinda. There was a similar, narrower regulation that went into effect right around when Apple switched.

0

u/JustCope17 6h ago

Now they should do this with electric vehicles and charging stations.

7

u/kbelicius 5h ago

They did? I don't know of any charging station that is not able to charge any EV currently sold in EU.

2

u/needle1 2h ago

Europe uses CCS. The USA is about to standardize on NACS. Japan uses CHAdeMO. China uses GB/T.

1

u/JustCope17 4h ago

Looks like I’m wrong. Guess I was under impression they have diff ones because I drove a Tesla for first time last week in Portugal and saw there are diff types of plugs/connectors, but I see that must be for diff AC/DC charger. So that’s good.

Problem then was just still the few chargers like someplace in Portugal. At one point we were at a gas station with two slow electric rechargers. Both occupied. A guy said he’d be there another hour or so charging. So we wait along side for the other spot to open. Then another electric car comes in saying they only have 1% left. So the first guy lets them recharge a bit so they can move onto next place. We eventually drove another 15 minutes away to find another charger that was free. As of right now I can see them being useful in for daily commutes/city driving, but we took it for a road trip and there wasn’t enough charger stations yet to alleviate waiting times in popular places. But I guess there will be plenty in another decade.

https://alternative-fuels-observatory.ec.europa.eu/general-information/recharging-systems#:~:text=In%20the%20European%20Union%2C%20recharging,2%20is%20recharging%20via%20DC.

0

u/ericje 1h ago

cut costs for consumers, who will no longer have to purchase separate chargers for each device they own.

Apple already supplied USB chargers since forever, so that makes no sense. The only thing this changes are the cables.

-10

u/P0RTILLA 13h ago

10

u/gameleon 9h ago edited 9h ago

Easier to update the standards on devices than to change the standards on millions of buildings.

While unified sockets are still far away, It’s a bit better on the plug side of things, though.

A few decades ago they managed to design a plug that unifies most ungrounded electrical connections in Europe (europlug) and managed to make a universal grounded plug unifying connections to the E and F sockets (blue and green on the linked map).

Ireland (and other G plug countries) being the major exception within the EU, with the G plug not having any kind of unification yet.

3

u/phr0ze 4h ago

They just need to mandate new buildings/new improvements to use the new type. Just like they dont make companies retrofit old phones, they can leave old buildings alone.

1

u/P0RTILLA 2h ago

Agreed, the EU will never do this because they can’t put the onus on a foreign entity.

1

u/gameleon 1h ago

Possible. Most countries just didn’t want to have two power standards for a looong time.

Building wiring doesn’t get replaced as often as phones etc. Sometimes it takes decades. Depending how different the universal plug is, it could mean cables need to come with two plugs or some buildings would be stuck with adapters for a while.

Phones have the same issues when plugs change, but phones get replaced faster/cheaper and phone connectivity is considered less of a basic need than electricity. Hence why more countries opted for more semi-universal plugs rather than universal sockets.

Italy is in the process of changing sockets, though (moving from type L to type F), so it’s not impossible.

8

u/nicuramar 8h ago

Yup. The EU consists of many countries. They are all pretty compatible, though. 

5

u/Buttercup4869 8h ago

The Italian ones are disappearing and Green and Blue are compatible.

All of them can use 2 prong Europlug

2

u/Vast-Charge-4256 7h ago

Except UK/Irish....

3

u/Buttercup4869 7h ago

I have to admit that I forgot that the Irish went along with the Brits, so they are the most ones out in the EU

8

u/FriendlyDespot 9h ago

The EU has largely standardised on the Europlug for applications up to 2.5A at 230V, which displaced a lot of other national plug standards. All EU countries are either Europlug or Europlug-compatible (types E, F, and K.)

2

u/P0RTILLA 2h ago

Is Ireland not in the EU now?

6

u/Chrontius 11h ago

Because the transition costs would suck. Still probably worthwhile in the long term, but we'd be best waiting for opportunities where we could offset the cost somehow.

2

u/olavk2 4h ago

You say that, but its not a particularly big problem, i have never had one of my plugs not fit in another socket in europe, the plugs are almost always made so that they work in any of the sockets...

1

u/P0RTILLA 2h ago

Ireland doesn’t count though.

-26

u/Playardelcarmen 12h ago

Byeeeeeeee byeeeeeee innovation! A slippery slope the EU is on.

11

u/GodlessPerson 10h ago

I remember when I kept a drawer of all the different phone chargers used around the house. When buying a new model from the same brand meant buying a whole new charger. When a charger got defective, you couldn't just use another that you had, you had to buy one specific to that device. When buying a device also meant figuring out the charging port so I wouldn't have to change the setup around my house. When the charging port was exactly the same dimensions but the phone didn't charge for some reason or charged too slowly so I couldn't use it while charging. And when you had a slightly older phone so you couldn't find any charger that fit and even the multi device chargers didn't have your particular brand/model. When you had to travel, you had to bring 3/4 different chargers for all the devices.

When I bought a Lenovo laptop and my cat bit the charging wire 3 years later, I found out lenovo no longer sold that specific charger and none of the multi device chargers I could find had the proper voltage and wattage so I had to order from some key mash company from china on amazon that magically stopped existing a year later. Thankfully the charger worked.

I'm happy to leave that "innovation" behind.

12

u/FriendlyDespot 9h ago

What innovation is it that you think is going away?

10

u/hextree 9h ago

Nothing is stopping manufacturers adding whatever other port they want to the phone.

8

u/TraditionalAppeal23 9h ago

USB-C is highly extensible and you can add new functionality to it. If they want to change to a new port they can, just needs to be agreed upon by other device manufacturers, it's not USB-C forever. And nothing stops them from adding any port they want even if not agreed upon, they just need to add USB-C too, many laptops do this nowadays with a USB-C and an old barrel connector both for charging and thats totally fine.

Having an open standard also improves innovation for accessory manufacturers. Before this you would need approval from Apple to make anything that plugs into the lightening port, now anyone can do it.

-37

u/1wiseguy 15h ago

I don't think it should be the role of the government to decide what kind of interface a phone should have. Technology has done really well so far without any central authority defining the details.

If I want a phone with a USB-C interface (or any other feature), I can choose that from the various products that are available.

Should we also define a standard operating system and battery size?

11

u/arahman81 15h ago

Phones stopped having their own adapters and switched to MicroUSB because of a previous regulation.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_external_power_supply

2

u/GodlessPerson 10h ago

Not really a regulation. Just a suggestion. Compliance was voluntary.

6

u/FriendlyDespot 9h ago

"Voluntary" insofar as the EU said "figure it out as an industry or a common standard will be imposed on you." They couldn't figure it out as an industry, so USB-C was imposed.

1

u/fatbob42 7h ago

Can you imagine if they’d enforced uniformity a little earlier and we’d ended up with fucking micro-USB?

1

u/GodlessPerson 5h ago

No, some companies signed a memorandum of understanding and only those companies actually had to do anything. When the memorandum expireda few companies voluntarily re-signed it.

-2

u/veganzombeh 6h ago

Do headphone jacks next please.

1

u/GodlessPerson 2h ago

Usb c allows audio throughput. There are several adapters. Hopefully this new standardization also improves compatibility with those adapters.

-20

u/Playardelcarmen 12h ago

Where are all these fines going the EU is giving to big tech? I have yet to see a refund of anything.

Anybody who thinks all this regulation is actually good for the people living in the EU should really think a bit harder.

18

u/TraditionalAppeal23 9h ago

In Europe typically fines like that are used to pay for 5g nanobots for self-spreading vaccines from what I've read on info wars

-6

u/Ok-Beginning-2210 5h ago

Won't companies just simply not sell to the EU?

6

u/alamur 4h ago

It's the world's largest market, so no.

3

u/Raaka-Kake 4h ago

Please, stop selling…

2

u/Daedelous2k 3h ago

Shareholders demand money so they will comply, it's a time when you'll see this sub cheer for shareholders.

-5

u/Shingle-Denatured 4h ago

Solving the wrong problem yet again. Problem to solve is the right to repair.

USB-C is the most fragile plug I've dealt with. Typed from a laptop with 3/4 USB-C slots broken, most likely through particle build up, but to verify that would require opening it, requiring special tools.

-22

u/Common-Ad6470 18h ago

So....what happens to all the new items already in shops that are still lightning connectors, do they get trashed Thursday?

😳

14

u/tehrob 18h ago

Items with Lightning connectors already in shops can usually still be sold, but no new stock of non-USB-C devices is allowed after the law takes effect.